Life Hacks | How To Find Out Who's Sending You Scams Via Text and What To Do

Photo from Globe Telecom

We are living in a digital age wherein it is almost impossible to not have access to gadgets like mobile phones and computers, to name a few. Ever since the use for technology became rampant--mostly to our advantage, one cannot deny that technology also has a relatively negative affect to users. Like for instance, scamming. Although scamming has been present for the past years (decades even), scammers are becoming more aggressive and witty when it comes to creating these scams. One very good example is through text (text scams/text scamming, etc.).

These text scams vary from winning a lottery or contest you didn't even join or knew of, to receiving a text that a relative/friend/boss is in trouble or in the hospital. But lately, we have been receiving A LOT of text scams, especially ever since my boyfriend got himself a post-paid account from Globe. It was definitely annoying at first, when he receives 1 or two messages like that in a month, but talk about receiving more or less two messages a week sometimes! So I figured, it's either I ignore it (and just block the number) or take an action. I know this has been going on for more than a year now and I've been proactive about reporting these scams to Globe via @Talk2GLOBE whenever I receive one, but this time, whenever I see lots of scam AND spam messages sent to my boyfriend's phone, I simply cannot stand it anymore. Blocking the numbers over and over again just won't suffice because they keep on coming and the volume of scam and spam messages being sent to post-paid numbers are just increasing!

Suggestion: Don't link to Facebook the phone you're using to scam people
Posted by Pao Asuncion on Tuesday, 1 September 2015

Sometime last week, I came across this post. I was amazed so I immediately tried it to this one text scammer's number. Prior to this incident though, I was just so pissed off when I saw that there were like 2 scam messages and 2 spam messages in his phone that was all sent on the same day. This particular number definitely irritated me because I thought, "Magpapanggap ka na nga lang na from Globe ka, di mo man lang ayusin spelling ng outgoing mo." This person used a 0 (zero) instead of an O (letter), and you expect me to believe you and fall for your shit? So apart from replying a feisty comeback and blocking the number, I took a screenshot and reported it to Globe then deleted the message. I thought it would end there... But thanks to the Facebook post I saw, I was able to track who the lazy ass scammer is.

Upon finding out her identity, I immediately reported this to Globe and I truly appreciate how fast they replied and handled this matter...

In the conversation that we had last night, a Globe representative said that they'll need my consent to use the number as evidence against the sender should they make a complaint; and that I have to keep the message on my phone, but like what I said above, I deleted the message from my boyfriend's phone. However it was later on clarified by another representative that the screenshot I sent them will already do. Also, since it was my boyfriend's number, he also needs to agree with the terms. I agreed, but the boyfriend does not want to have anything to do with it. I have yet to talk to him about this so I haven't replied to the reps...

Anyway, if you receive text scams too, I suggest you do the same actions because we need to put a stop to this, or at least lessen the number of people doing this. They should know that what they're doing is not good and that they can be punished or at least know that Globe is doing something regarding this. Here's what you need to do:

1. Take a screenshot of the message with the scammer's number and as much as possible, keep it for future reference. Globe also advises its customers to not respond to the text.
2. Report it to Globe via the Globe website through Talk2Globe Chat (http://chat.globe.com.ph); send a message through Globe Contact Form (http://globe.com.ph/talk2Globenow) and by tweeting @Talk2GLOBE on Twitter.
3. The representative will handle the matter and then will ask you to agree with the terms, DM (Direct Message) the number of the recipient of the text scam for their reference.
4. Follow up, so you'll know what the status of your report it.

Let's prevent and lessen the occurrence of these scams so others will not fall for this and be a victim.